The present invention relates to an interior vehicle door handle and one which can be extended for easy access when the door is opened.
With larger vehicles and particularly those with two doors, once a passenger has been seated with the door in a fully opened position, it is sometimes difficult, particularly with shorter people, to reach the opened door to close it prior to moving the vehicle. One solution was proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,610,084 and 2,677,573, in which a pivoted handle is mounted to the inside of the door and can be extended to provide a readily accessible closure handle. Such construction, however, does not conform to modern vehicle design in which typically strap-like door handles are employed or handles integrally formed with an armrest. Accordingly, there is a need for a door handle which can facilitate closure of particularly large doors in larger vehicles when the door is in a fully opened position and the passenger or driver is seated.